Day 1

This farm is amazing. Autumn woke me up around 11 a.m. and soon after we got dressed in some dirty clothes, borrowed some big rubber boots and headed towards the barn.

Job 1
Setting the horses free into the field for the day. I was in charge of standing at the beginning of the road next to the stables to make sure the horses didn't escape down that road. It was absolutely amazing when the 7-10 horses came around the corner RUNNING head-on in my direction. At first I was scared and wanted to run because I didn't know if they would stop, but as they got closer they turned into the field. It was the best way to start my day. The horses (cavalli) were so beautiful and graceful as they ran... so excited to be free from the stables.

Job 2
Cleaning the cow barn. Joe handed me some poop-scraping tool and sent me into a stable to scrape cow poop. Yes, I have a picture [click here] to prove it haha. It was one of the most disgusting smells I have ever been around for an extensive period of time. As much as I was grossed out... it was kind of fun! Autumn was in another stable doing the same. We scraped poop for a few hours, then washed the stables down with a hose (well, joe did that part) and then we covered them with fresh hay. Once that was done, I took a bunch of trips back and forth with the shovel, feeding the cows - it was awesome.

Late Lunch Break - I didn't have anything too exciting for lunch today.. Just some pasta with red sauce & some salad. It filled me right up though for my first meal of the day!

Job 3
Going to find the "other" horses. I don't know what is different about these horses, but they weren't the same as the ones in the stable from earlier. We walked through the field and down into the muddy woods along some old train tracks for about 20 minutes in search of the other horses. They are allowed to roam further and according to Robyn, they tend to congregate near the abandoned train station through the woods. It was really cool to see them free & grazing in the open. We had to gather them to put them back onto the path towards the farm. We did this by clapping our hands and yelling one of two things: "eh" or "andiamo" (let's go). They followed alongside us until we got to the path [click for photo] where they ran ahead. Once we climbed up through the woods and back across the field, we had to walk to a different field because they didn't come all the way home. Joe sent Autumn, Robyn and I to do this on our own. Yet again, it was AWESOME. We ran into the field near the horses [click for photo] and herded them back to the farm! So cool.

Job 4
Herding the sheep. This process was much simpler and quicker than the horses. For some reason, I guess sheep follow orders better. Once we got them into the pen, they started "baahhing" at us really loudly, it was hilarious! Right next to the sheep pen was a donkey! I don't think I have ever seen a donkey in real life, but it was so cute! And it made the "hee-haw" sound extremely loud. I realized today, that of the many farm-animal sounds we read and learn about in kindergarten, I haven't heard many of the real animals make the noise---until today-- and it is way cooler!

Job 5
Feeding the ducks, some big spotted birds, the deer and the goats. The ducks hang out by a little pond with a bridge that goes over it. It is such a nice little walk. [click for photo] As we continued, the deer were on our right.. very small and very skinny. They don't use the deer for anything, they are just there for fun. It was really cool to see them so close! Next, Joe took Autumn and I up a hill to a large bird cage. Inside were some pretty, big, spotted birds. I don't know what they're called but I almost had to go inside the cage with them to feed them (we all know my fear of big birds lol).. Luckily, Autumn volunteered. Last, but not least we fed the goats. There was a baby goat and it was super adorable (like all of the other baby animals around the farm!)

That was the last of our jobs for our first day, but I would say it was an eventful, amazing, fun-filled day at "Goccia d'oro Ranch" :-)

The animals I have seen on the farm are:
Horses (all kinds & babys!)
Ponies (the midget-looking horses) [click for photo]
Cats (So many, everywhere! I love it)
Dogs (so far i've only seen 2 -- Lupo & Billy)
Cows, Bulls & Calves [click for photo]
Pigs (Much bigger than I could have imagined) [click for photo]
Piglets (playful and adorable!)
Chickens (getting used to them)
Deer (skinny with white spots, just like bambi!) [click for photo]
Goats
Ostriches (Huge, Ugly, Scary, Mean-looking) [click for photo]
Ducks
Sheep
Donkey [click for photo]
Bunnies (white & brown ones)

and... autumn JUST told me there are big black snakes somewhere. I hope she is lying, but in the case that she isn't--- HELP!

We ended our day with some home-made pizza! Barbara prepared the dough earlier in the evening and we each topped our own pizza to our preference. [click for photo] There was even FRESH delicious mozarella! Yummy :-)

Tomorrow shall be yet another eventful day!